Gällö Timber starts operations

On June 1st Sweden’s most recent wood products company started operations. Gällö Timber comprises the sawmills Gällö, Tjärnvik and Jämtlamell, Stugun. President of the new company is Tommy Högberg, former production manager at SCA’s sawmill Tunadal. Persson Invest and SCA own equal stakes in Gällö Timber.

In February SCA and Persson Invest announced their intentions to form a new wood products company together.

“ All preparations have gone as planned”, says new President Tommy Högberg. “The last piece was the green light from the competition authority. On June 1st the new company started operations and we will now put all efforts into developing the company and its business. Gällö has a good reputation among customers, so we expect a flying start. Gällö Timber will be a competitive company that will make good use of the valuable timber raw material in the Jämtland region.”

Gällö Timber is another step in the extensive cooperation between SCA and Persson Invest, both with respect to sales of sawn products in certain markets and in the procurement of raw materials.

“Gällö Timber will utilise SCA Timber’s well-developed sales organisation, which will significantly boost our strength in the market for sawn products,” says Bob Persson, President of Persson Invest. “Coordinating production and the product range of Tjärnvik, Gällö and Stugun will enable us to enhance production efficiency.”

“With the addition of Gällö Timber’s products, SCA Timber will be able to offer larger volumes of sawn products – more than two million cubic meters in total – making us a more attractive partner for the most dynamic wood-products customers in Europe and in other markets,” says Jonas Mårtensson, President of SCA Timber.

Primaskog, which is jointly owned with Rödins Trä, has largely been responsible for the procurement of raw material for Persson Invest’s sawmills and the company will also continue to procure raw material for both Gällö Timber and Rödins Trä.

A total of 161 employees are affected at the sawmills at Gällö, Tjärnvik and Stugun, in addition to some 10 contractor staff. The combined production of the three sawmills is 400,000 cubic meters of sawn products.